Dorothy Baggett witnessed plenty as a nurse in Germany during World War II a month after American soldiers liberated prisoners at the Dachau concentration camp. She saw bodies of Holocaust victims stacked outside a crematorium and nursed survivors as part of the Army Air Corps.

Before Holden's less-than-perfect heart gave out last year, when he had gotten too weak to stand on his two little feet, and when he had to spend days at the hospital for one of his four surgeries, he loved to parade around the hospital floor in a little wagon.

Qatari women are increasingly defying social constraints and joining the workforce in the booming energy-rich country, which offers support for new enterprises and encourages start-ups by university graduates.